Here We Go Again: a Cliche Story about a Girl
by PlushChrome
Summary: Wherein Davy ruins his suit, Peter sneezes, Micky wears a wig, Mike gets glue on his hands, and all because of a girl. It's not as lame as it sounds, trust me.


Disclaimer: Hey! I'm only 19! I'm not near old enough to own the Monkees! So there.

~Monkees~

It was at a gig when it all started, like it had been at a gig so many times before. They were in the middle of their set, singing their song "The Last Train to Clarksville," when Mike happened to glance at Davy, and noticed the all-too-familiar twinkle in his younger friend's eyes. He followed his gaze to a pretty brunette standing near the back of the small room, who smiled sweetly back up at Davy.

_Here we go again, _He thought. Catching Peter's eye, he nodded toward Davy. Peter looked at Davy and also followed his gaze to the girl before looking back at Mike and sighing. Then Peter turned toward Micky and indicated Davy. Micky, who was behind the drums, couldn't see Davy or what he was looking at, but he could guess what was going on and groaned, right in the middle of the song he was singing.

Peter tried to get Davy's attention off the girl by taking a short break from his guitar playing and waving his hand in front of Davy's face, but that didn't work. Micky tried to get Davy's attention by "accidentally" throwing one of his spare drumsticks at him, but Davy didn't even notice. And finally, Mike tried to get Davy's attention off the girl by leading the other two Monkees into a different song than the one they had rehearsed, but Davy just kept time with his tambourine and if he noticed the song change, he didn't show it.

No, Davy had eyes for that girl and that girl only.

After the set was over, Davy hopped off the stage and began walking over to her before the rest of the Monkees had time to get untangled from their instruments.

"You know, it might not have been such a good idea to give Davy the Tambourine," Mike said as he struggled to unclasp the faulty guitar strap on his bass.

"Yeah," said Micky, who was climbing out from behind his drum set. "He doesn't even have to put his instrument down when he leaves, he can carry it with him."

Sure enough, Davy, in his haste to meet the (new) girl of his dreams, hadn't even bothered to set down the tambourine before he left. Finally free of their instruments, the three friends rushed over to the back of the room, but it was too late. Davy reached the girl right as they got to him. "Hello," he said softly. "I'm Davy."

"Oh, we're too late!" Micky cried. "The first words have been spoken! Nothing can keep them apart now!" "Now, hold on a minute, there, Mick," Mike said calmly. "She hasn't spoken back yet."

"I'm Tina," said the girl.

"Oh, we're too late!" Mike cried. "Nothing can keep them apart now!" Peter shook his head. "And here I thought we had a chance," he said.

"Come on, fellas," Mike said resignedly, turning back towards the stage. "Let's leave 'em to it." And so the three of them packed up all their instruments as Davy continued to talk with Tina.

~Monkees~

"I'm telling ya guys, she's amazing!"

They were back at the pad, and Davy had done nothing but talk about Tina since they had dragged him from the club, and they were sick and tired of it.

"Davy, You've done nothing but talk about Tina since we dragged you out of that club, and we're sick and tired of it!" Mike said from his position on the floor.

"Yeah, it's been a real drag!" Peter spoke up from the couch, where he was standing on his head.

"Guys, give it a rest!' Micky said dramatically, walking up and putting his arm around Davy's shoulder. "Can't you see, they're in love! And who are we to stand in the way of something as free and as beautiful, as true love? Why, a match like this comes only once in a hundred years!" He looked at Davy, and frowned, losing all his dramatic flair. "Well, once every couple of minutes, at least."

"Guys, come on, I'm being serious," Davy said. "I think I really love her."

Peter lost his balance and tumbled to the ground as Mike stood up. The result was Peter almost fell on Mike, who dodged it just in time before turning to Davy.

"Now wait just a second there, Davy," he said. "I'm being serious too. You only just met the girl tonight, you don't know anything about her!"

"I know plenty about her!" Davy exclaimed. "Her name's Tina, she likes kittens and pink lemonade, she moved here from Virginia two years ago and she wants to be a dancer. She's 18 years old and she's got an older brother named Jim, and she heard about us from a friend, so she came to the club tonight to hear us play. She says she really liked us."

"Goodness, you sure did a lot of talking tonight, if she told you all that!" Peter said.

"Yeah, well, I did!" Davy exclaimed. "And I've already got a date with her tomorrow night, so you all might as well leave off!"

With that, Davy strode off to his bedroom, shutting the door rather loudly behind him.

"You know guys, I reckon Davy can handle himself just fine," Mike said after Davy left.

"But Mike, you know how Davy is!" Micky sat down on the couch as he talked. "If he goes on that date tomorrow, he'll be so far gone we won't be able to pull him back!"

"Well, I don't like it any more than you do, Mick, but we have to let Davy make his own decisions. That's the only way he'll ever learn."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Micky said, sighing. "Let's just hope he pays attention in class, I'd hate to have to give him a bad grade."

~Monkees~

The next day, Peter walked to the corner stand that sold newspapers and bought a copy. Opening it to read, his face was completely obscured from the view of two girls who also stopped in front of the stand.

"Say, Tina," said the first girl as she got out some money to pay for the paper. "Have you and Jeffy got back together yet?" Tina shook her head. "No, but I'll get him back soon enough." "Yeah?" the other girl sounded skeptical. "How're ya gonna manage that?"

"Oh, Peggy, it'll be easy," Tina replied, smirking. "You know that restaurant he works at?" "Yeah, so what?" Said Peggy. "Well," Tina said smugly. "I've got a date tonight, and I'm gonna ask him to take me to that restaurant. Jeffy's working tonight, so he'll be sure to see me."

Peggy laughed as the guy selling papers counted out her change. "Tina, I know Jeffy, and you'd have to have a pretty amazing date to get him jealous." Tina was smiling from ear to ear as she talked. "That's the best part," she said. "The guy I've got plays in a rock and roll band, he's a foreigner, and he's really cute. In fact, if I didn't just want to use him to make Jeffy jealous, I'd date him for real. It would probably get me some good publicity for my dancing career."

"Wow," Peggy breathed. "He sounds great! How'd you get him to date you?" Tina laughed. "Oh, he was easy prey. I had him eating right out of my hand! All it took was me to bat my eyes at him, and he practically fell over himself to get to me!" Peggy took the change the guy was holding out to her and smiled dreamily as they began to walk away. "Wow, Tina, you sure know how to catch a fella. I just wish I could find somebody that would fall all over me like that."

"Excuse me, miss?" The two girls turned around to see a good-natured looking blonde take a few steps toward them before tripping over a leash from a passing dog. He stumbled a few steps, trying to get his balance, and then fell to the ground. He didn't notice the two girls laugh as he righted himself, and smiled at Peggy as he held out his hand.

"You dropped your quarter," he said. "Thanks," Peggy said, barely managing to stifle her laughter as she took the quarter from the boy's hand. "Now, get lost." Peter blinked, confused, He had only been trying to help. The two girls turned away, no longer even trying to hide their laughter, and Peter felt his face get red. He turned back toward the news stand, and realized that everyone was laughing at him.

Sighing, he walked back to the pad, shoulders slumped. This wasn't turning out to be a very good day.

~Monkees~

Mike, being the unofficial leader and big brother of the group, noticed right away that something was the matter with Peter. "Hey, Pete," he said, walking over to him. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing much," Peter said glumly as he sat on the couch next to Micky. "I just ran into a couple of mean girls down at the news stand." Mike felt a surge of sympathy for Peter, as well as a surge of anger at the "mean girls." He didn't know yet what had happened, but he could guess.

"Aw, Peter, I'm sorry," he said genuinely. "What happened?" Peter sighed. "Well," he started. "I was reading the newspaper when they came up, and they talked a little bit as they bought a paper. Then one of the girls dropped a quarter, you know, from making change? So I picked up the quarter to give to her. Well, then I tripped over something and fell. But I got up and I gave her the quarter, and then she told me to get lost and she and her friend laughed at me."

Mike wanted to get up right then and there, track down the two girls, and give them a piece of his mind. But he knew that wouldn't help Peter, so he offered what words of comfort and advice he could. "Don't worry about those mean girls, Pete," he said. "They just don't know you, is all. And besides, with the way they treated you, they're not even worth the time of day."

"Mike's right," Micky said. "Those girls sound like real jerks."

"Yeah, they were," Peter said. "You should have heard what they were talking about when they were buying the paper!" "Why, what'd they talk about?" Micky asked curiously.

"Well, one of them's got a date with a boy, and she said he was "easy prey." She's taking him to a restaurant tonight, where her old boyfriend works, so that he'll get jealous and want to go out with her again."

"Boy, you were right about them being jerks," Micky said in disgust. "Imagine, finding out your date was just using you to get somebody else jealous. Shameful!"

"Now, wait a second," said Mike. Something seemed to click for him. "Pete, did this girl say who her date was?"

Peter shook his head. "No, just that he was cute, a foreigner, and in a band. Why do you ask?" Micky's eyes grew wide. "You don't think... Davy?" He asked.

Mike folded his arms. "That's what I thought," he said. Peter stood up and looked from Mike to Micky and then back at Mike. "You mean, the Tina from the news stand is the same Tina from last night!? Oh no!"

"I'm afraid so, Pete," Mike said. Hearing the name Tina just made it even more clear. If it had been him or Micky standing there at the news stand, they would have figured it out right away... and then they would have been blinded by fury and decked her for using Davy, just to regret it as soon as the punch landed. But it wasn't them at the news stand, it was Peter, and in a way, that was probably a good thing.

A lot of people assumed that Peter was slow, because of the things he would say. But it wasn't that Peter was slow, it was just that Peter didn't see things the way everybody else did. Peter saw things as the way he thought they should be rather than what they were, and Peter was such a caring, peace-loving individual that things like cruelty, selfishness, malice, and deceit just went completely unnoticed by him.

Peter never would have laughed at someone who tripped and fell, especially if they did so in an attempt to help someone else, so it never even occurred to him that someone else would laugh.

Peter would never use somebody just to get someone else jealous, and the idea was so foreign to him that even when he overheard such plans being made, the thought never even occurred to him that they could involve someone he knew.

And Peter would never hit anybody, least of all a lady (applying the term loosely), so even if he _had_ known Tina would laugh at him and even if he _had_ realized Tina's intentions with Davy, the thought would have never even crossed his mind to even get angry, let alone take it out on the object of his anger.

No, Peter wasn't angry at the girl who would hurt his friend, he was only worried about Davy himself. "What are we going to do?" He asked Mike anxiously. "We can't let her go through with it, Davy'll be heartbroken!"

"And he's not going to call off the date, either, he's already made that very clear," Micky added.

"Well," said Mike. "I think we're going to have to go talk to this "Jeffy" person. Maybe he can be reasoned with, maybe he'll just back off."

"Well, what good'll that do?" Micky asked. "Tina's still using Davy, whether her plan works or not." "Well, maybe if she sees it's not working, she'll let Davy down easy," Mike said. "He'll still be upset, but it's not like he hasn't broken up with girls before. Besides, being dumped is still a whole lot better than being used."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Micky said. "Alright then, lets go talk to Jeffy."

~Monkees~

Davy, meanwhile, was having an interesting day of it as well. He had been out for a stroll and was heading back to the pad when he ran into Tina and one of her friends. "Davy!" She exclaimed, beaming at him.

"Hello, Tina," he said smiling. He couldn't help but smile when she was around. "Davy, this is my friend, Peggy." Tina introduced him to her friend. "Peggy, this is Davy, he's that guy I was telling you about." Peggy smiled. "I see," she said. "It's nice to meet you, Davy. I hear you're in a band?"

Davy nodded. "Yeah," he said. "Me and my friends, we're in a band together. It's pretty groovy." Peggy nodded. "Yeah, I'll bet." She said. "Well, I'll tell ya what, I'm running late for an interveiw, so how about I leave you two at it for awhile, I'll see ya later!"

Peggy turned and walked away, as Tina waved. "Bye, Peggy!" She called. Then she turned to Davy. "So listen," she said excitedly. "There's this nice little restaurant downtown, they have the best milkshakes, so I was thinking, maybe we could go there for dinner tonight!"

Davy smiled. He had been planning on taking her to a free concert performance in the park, there was a group of struggling musicians like them, and they were performing there that night in an attempt to get some publicity. He had heard them perform before, and he liked their sound.

Afterwards, he was planning to take her to a hotdog stand on the other side of the park, enjoying the long walk under the stars. Not to mention, the owner of the hotdog stand, Randolph, liked Davy because he looked like Randolph's only son, who had died at an early age, so Randolph always gave Davy free hotdogs.

But Davy suddenly realized that he couldn't say no to Tina when she was smiling like that, so without even blinking, he agreed. "Sure, I'll take you there," he said. "What time should I pick you up?" She gave him a quick hug. "Oh, thank you, Davy!" She said. "Pick me up at seven thirty, I'll make us reservations. See you then!"

Then she turned and ran off. Davy smiled until she was out of sight, and then he let out a deep breath. He hadn't even realized he was holding his breath. A thought suddenly occurred to him. A restaurant that required reservations was bound to be rather expensive, and he was absolutely broke.

He looked at his watch, it was eleven in the morning. So he had eight and a half hours to earn some money, and he could ask the other fellows to lend him some as well. They often helped each other out of situations like this. _Well,_ he thought. _Better get to work._

~Monkees~

Mike, Micky and Peter arrived at the restaurant and tried to get through the door. Eventually, they shoved through and once they were out of the tight space, there was enough room for the three of them and they spread out to look for Jeffy.

Micky searched the tables, checking under the plates and behind the salt shakers, and crawling underneath the tablecloths to make sure he wasn't hiding under the tables.

Peter walked around to every costumer there, smiling pleasantly and asking each one if they were Jeffy.

Mike had the most luck. He went up to the counter and asked the girl working there if they could talk to Jeffy.

"I'm sorry," she said. "But Jeffy isn't here right now. His shift doesn't start until seven tonight." "Oh, well that's too bad," Mike said. "Say, miss, do you know where I can find him?" The girl smiled. "Yes," she said. "There's a place down the street, The Jim, he's usually there around this time of day."

"Oh, well, what's it called?" Mike asked. "The Jim?" said the girl. "Yes, what's its name?" Mike repeated. "It's The Jim," She said, looking at him in bewilderment. "Yeah, but what's the gym's name?" Mike asked. "You just said it!" The girl exclaimed. "You mean, the gym?" Mike asked. "Yup!" she answered. Mike decided to just let it go.

"Thanks, miss," Mike said. He went and gathered Micky, who was apologizing profusely to a couple seated at table three, on whom he had accidentally spilled a glass of milk while checking it for Jeffy, and then the two of them gathered Peter, who was having a discussion with a man seated at a booth in the back on the proper care of tomato plants.

"Did you find him?" Micky asked once they had managed to get through the front door again. "Well, not yet," Mike answered. "I guess he works out. He's down the street a little ways, at some gym."

"There!" Peter pointed to a small building down the street with a sign in the window reading _The Jim_. "Ohh," Mike said. "The Jim! I get it!" He chuckled as they walked down to The Jim.

"How will we know which one's Jeffy?" Peter asked as they squeezed through yet another door and began walking down a long hallway.

"HIYA!" The yell came from right behind them, and they all yelled and jumped as they turned around.

Standing right behind them was a man so tall that even Mike had to look up to see his face, and so buff that Micky, who was short enough to be level with the man's bicep, saw that it was about as big as his head.

Meanwhile, Peter, who was taller than Micky but not as tall as Mike, saw the nametag on the man's karate uniform. "Hey guys," he said to the other two. "I think I've found Jeffy!"

Mike cleared his throat as the three of them took a step back. "Ahem, uh, My name is Mike, and I was wondering, can we- can we speak to you for a second, Mr. Jeffy?"

"Sure," said the man. "But you gotta make it quick, I'm in the middle of teaching my class."

They looked behind him and saw a room full of strong-looking people in karate uniforms, looking at them menacingly. "Oh, uh, yeah-" Mike cleared his throat again in an attempt to rid his voice of the squeakiness it had suddenly developed. "Ahem! Yeah, sure we won't be long at all!" The sooner they could leave the building, the better. Slowly, they backed themselves towards the door as Mike talked. "Well, uh, y'see," he said, trying to present their argument without using any names, which suddenly seemed very important. "Let's say, hypothetically speaking, that, uh, you had a girlfriend. And let's just say, that this girlfriend, well, she, uh, she got another date, hypothetically speaking, and you found her and this date together. Well, a nice guy like you, that wouldn't bother you at all, now, would it?"

Mike smiled nervously, ending his "hypothetical" speech. Jeffy frowned for a second, as if he were thinking.

"Well," he said. "Hypothetically speaking, I would have to say that I'm the jealous type. Take my old girlfriend, Tina, for example. About a year ago, I caught her hugging another guy. I got so mad, I lost control, and I hit him. He's alright now, the doctors were able to put his nose back in its right place, and he got some fake teeth to replace the ones he lost. Turns out, he's her brother, and he was visiting from Virginia. He's a really nice guy, we're actually good friends now. He lent me the money to open this place, so I named it after him."

Jeffy was smiling, but the three Monkees weren't. "Well, thanks for your time," Mike said. They were almost out the door. "Better get back to your class, they're looking pretty restless. I mean, bored!" Jeffy turned to look at his class, and the boys took that opportunity to run through the door, for once going one at a time so they could get through faster.

~Monkees~

They were back at the pad, trying to figure out what to do. Mike sat on the couch as Micky and Peter paced back and forth in front of him, passing each other as they paced.

"What are we going to do?" Micky asked, for the upteenth time since they had left The Jim. "You saw Jeffy! He'll rip Davy to pieces!"

Just then, the door opened and Davy himself came rushing in. Peter and Micky stopped their pacing and stared at Davy, eyes open wide, and Mike stood up quickly, also staring. Davy didn't seem to notice.

"Oh, there you guys are," he said, sighing with relief. "I've been looking everywhere for you! Tina wants me to take her to a pricy restaurant tonight, and I need to borrow some money. Do you think you could help me out?"

Mike and Micky looked at each other. They were thinking along the same lines. If Davy didn't have any money, he couldn't take Tina to the restaurant. If he couldn't take her to the restaurant, he wouldn't run into Jeffy. And if he didn't run into Jeffy, Jeffy wouldn't beat him to a pulp. They looked back at Davy.

"Nope, I don't have any money," Mike was saying as Micky talked over him. "Sorry, Davy, I'm about as broke as you are."

"Well, I've got five dollars," Peter said, reaching into his pocket. "No!" Mike said at the same time Micky exclaimed "Peter!" Peter paused, his hand in his pocket, looking at Mike and Micky in confusion. Davy also looked bewildered. Micky walked over to Peter.

"Uh, Pete, don't you remember, you were gonna use that money to buy, um," he looked at Mike. "He was gonna buy, um..." Mike took the hint. "Well, Peter was gonna buy a new banjo with that money."

"A new banjo?" Davy asked. "With five bucks?" "Well, that's the thing," Mike said. "He needs to save up his money, so he can afford one. Isn't that right, Pete?" Peter, who had finally caught on, agreed. "Yeah," he said. "Sorry, Davy, but I really do need a new banjo."

Davy looked at his three band mates incredulously. "Well, fine," he said. "If that's how you're gonna be. I'll just have to find another way to earn some money."

He turned around and left the pad, and Mike returned to his spot on the couch as Micky and Peter bumped into each other before moving aside to continue pacing.

After a few moments, Mike stood up again. "Well," he said. "We can't keep Davy away from the date, and we can't keep Jeffy away from his job. But maybe we can keep Jeffy from seeing Davy while they're there."

"How are we going to do that?" Peter asked. "Yeah, Mike," Micky said. "How are we supposed to keep Davy and Jeffy away from each other?" Mike smiled. "We'll just have to improvise," he said.

~Monkees~

Davy, all dressed up in his favorite suit, held the door open for Tina as they entered the restaurant. He had worked hard at odd jobs all day and managed to scrape up enough money for a dinner for two, and thanks to Randolph, who had loaned him some money, he also had enough for an appetizer and two sodas. All in all, he was feeling good about the night ahead of him.

"Hello, good sir, can I show you to a seat?" The speaker was a rather strange-looking fellow in an oversized red jacket with a very large blonde mustache that matched an unusually wild bit of blonde hair. "Yes please," Davy said. "A table for two, if you don't mind."

"Well, as it happens, I mind very much." The man spoke quickly in a nasally voice. "How 'bout I seat you at a table for six? We've got a lovely family here with some extra room, they've got the most adorable kids, sweetest little stinkers you'll ever meet!" "No," Davy said. "It's got to be a table for two."

"Fine then, right this way!" The man led the two of them through the restaurant, going so fast that Davy and Tina had to run to keep up. The moment they were seated, the man rushed off and a waiter popped up out of nowhere and began handing them menus. "Welcome, welcome," he said quickly. "We're having a special tonight, two meals for the price of none. All you gotta do is eat fast, and it's free! So then, decided what you want?" The waiter grabbed the menus before Davy had even had a chance to open his, and rushed off.

"Well, that was strange," Davy said. Tina nodded. "Yeah," she said. "They must be new here. Usually, somebody else waits on this table."

~Monkees~

In the kitchen, Mike rushed in, throwing the two menus back with the others and pulling off the Groucho Marx glasses that disguised his face. "I can't breathe in this thing," he said. Micky was there, holding a tray with two meals on it, that he had swiped from another waiter when his back was turned.

"Well, you have to keep it on," he said, handing the tray to Mike. "Or else Davy will recognize you!" He sniffed. "Besides, at least your mustache is plastic. This thing itches like crazy!" He fingered the blonde mustache that was temporarily glued to his face. Well, it was supposed to be temporary.

"Oh no," he said. "What's the matter?" Mike paused on his way out the door, tray still in his hand. "Mike! My finger's stuck!" Micky tried pulling his hand from the mustache, but it wasn't coming loose. "What?" Mike set down the tray and also grabbed hold of the furry monster on Micky's face. He pulled, but it didn't give.

"Ow ow ow!" Micky cried out. "Don' pull sho har'!" "Sorry," Mike said, trying to let go. "Now I'm stuck, too!" He exclaimed. "How much glue did you use?" Micky smiled nervously.

"Well, I didn' wan' it oo fall off, sho I ushed the who' bo'le." His words were muffled due to the two hands glued to his face, and Mike had a hard time understanding him. Once he'd worked out what Micky had said, his eyes grew wide. "The whole bottle!?" He squeaked. "Well, now what are we supposed to do? Do you have the glue remover with you?"

"No," Micky said. "Bu' Pe'er doesh!" "Great, where's Peter?" Micky turned towards the back of the kitchen, Mike turning with him, since his hand was still glued to Micky's mustache. "He'sh back there, dish'rac'ing Jeffy," Micky said. Sure enough, Peter was in the back of the room, giving Jeffy a lesson on the proper way to sprinkle pepper on a steak sandwich, causing them both to sneeze repeatedly as Jeffy continued to try, always making some sort of mistake that Peter was quick to catch.

"No, see, you sprinkled it with your left hand," he was saying. "Achoo! If you shake it with your left- Achoo! Hand, you pour too much and then it doesn't taste very good at- Achoo! All."

"Well, I see what you're- Achoo! Saying, but if I do it with my right hand, Achoo! It gets all over the plate, because I'm left-handed. Achoo!"

"Well then, maybe what you've got to do is try and- Achoo! Steady the plate with your left hand, like this," Peter took the plate from Jeffy with his left hand and picked up the pepper shaker with his right. "And then try to sprinkle the pepper shaker over it, upside down." Peter leaned over so his head was upside down, somehow managing to hold the pepper shaker over the plate, before standing up and handing both to Jeffy. "Achoo! Now you try."

Jeffy took the plate and pepper shaker and reluctantly leaned over until he was upside down. He began to sprinkle the pepper onto the plate, but, being both upside down and left handed, the pepper went everywhere but onto the sandwich, causing Jeffy to sneeze. "ACHOO!" The force of the sneeze caused him to lose his balance, and he fell to the ground, dropping the plate and the pepper shaker.

The lid came off the pepper shaker then, and pepper went everywhere, causing both Jeffy and Peter to start sneezing so violently that neither of them could even get a word in edgewise.

"Well, we can't interrupt Peter," Mike said. "He's doing a pretty good job so far." "Bu' we have oo ge' the foo' oo Davy and 'ina before they shushpec' anything!" Micky said. "Well then, let's get to it!" Mike reached over and took hold of one side of the tray with his free hand. Micky sighed and took the other side with _his_ free hand. Then, working together, they kicked open the door and walked into the main dining area.

Everyone stared as they passed the tables, and when they reached table seven, both Davy and Tina stared up at them, eyes wide. "What are you doing!?" Davy asked in bewilderment. "Well," Micky said. "My mush'ache ish rea'y rea'y i'shy, sho I 'ried oo shra'sh i', bu' I ushed oo mush glue, an' now my han' ish sh'uck, sho he 'ried oo help, an' now he'sh sh'uck, oo."

Davy looked at him. "I have no idea what you just said." Mike sighed with relief. "Well, here's your meal," he said, smiling. He and Micky tried to coordinate their movements to set down the tray, but just ended up dropping it. The food spilled all over Davy, causing him to jump out of his seat with a yell as icy soda and hot food simultaneously poured onto his head and the front of his suit.

"Now look what you've done!" He sputtered, his face and mouth covered in a mixture of mashed potatoes, gravy, steak sauce, and soda. "This is my favorite jacket, and now it's ruined!" Sure enough, the suit was covered with food, and there was no possible way he would ever be able to get the stains out. Grabbing a napkin, he tried to wipe the wet mixture away from his eyes so he could open them without the risk of having soda pour into them, which was an experience he didn't want to have.

He was quite a sight, and if the situation hadn't been so desperate, Mike and Micky would have had to laugh at the sight. But right then, a sneezing Jeffy rushed out of the kitchen, with Peter close behind him, carrying a broom and sneezing just as violently.

"No, wait," he was saying. "Achoo! It was an accident, I was just trying to- Achoo! Sweep up all the pepper, I didn't- Achoo! Mean for it to go airborne! Achoo!"

"Yeah, well, Achoo! With the amount of- Achoo! Pepper flying around- Achoo! In there, you'd think you had- Achoo! Done it on purpose!"

Davy opened his eyes at the sound of Peter's voice. He immediately recognized Peter, who hadn't put on a disguise since he had been planning to spend all his time in the kitchen. "Peter!?" Davy asked in surprise. Peter tried to smile, but was too busy sneezing. Tina stood up. "You know him?" She asked, obviously surprised as well.

"Achoo! Tina!?" Jeffy managed to say in between his sneezes.

"Well, it's closing time!" Mike yelled out in a desperate attempt to end the conversation. Unfortunately, his glasses chose that moment to fall off, revealing his face.

"Mike?" Jeffy asked, recognizing him as the strange fellow who had talked to him earlier. Now it was Davy's turn to be surprised. "_You_ know _him_?" He asked. Micky, feeling a bit left out, turned to Davy and, feigning surprise, said "Davy!?" As clearly as he could. Davy had to squint to see who was hiding behind the mustache and pair of hands. "Micky!?" He said.

"WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON HERE!?" The manager came over at that point and looked at the "employees" angrily. "Gentlemen!" She said. "What a sight! Spilling food on the costumers! Sneezing up a storm! Playing with your mustache! Shouting out random names! This is not what I pay you for! You think this good for business!? You're all fired!"

"Aw man!" Peter said. "And with work so hard to find these days!" "Ishn' tha' dumb?" Micky muttered.

"Wait, just a minute," Davy said, glaring at his three friends. "What I want to know is, what are you all doing here? What's going on?" "Yeah," Jeffy said. "What_ are_ you guys doing here?" Davy glanced at Jeffy before turning to the other three. "And what's up with him?" He asked. "How do you know him?"

"Well," Mike said, trying to make some sense of everything in his head before attempting to explain it out loud. "Jeffy works at The Jim down the street." "There's a gym down the street?" Davy asked. "No, it's not a gym, it's just The Jim," Mike explained. Davy frowned in confusion, but Mike just plowed through. "So me, Micky and Peter went down to The Jim to talk to Jeffy, so, that's how he knows us!"

"Yeah, but why are you here?" Jeffy asked. Mike licked his lips, trying to come up with an explanation. "Well, you see, uh... We heard that you needed help down here, at the restaurant, and so, we decided to come down and uh, help."

"Well, you certainly did a great job of it," Davy said sarcastically. "Look at this mess! You guys owe me a new suit, and you ruined my date!"

Mike, Micky and Peter all winced as Jeffy looked from Davy to Tina, piecing together what was going on. "Date?" He said finally. "Yeah!" Davy said. "Here I am on a date, and these three clowns show up and ruin everything!"

Tina looked between Davy and Jeffy, smirking as Jeffy began to get red in the face. Mike instinctively moved between the two boys, and Peter and Micky got ready to try and hold Jeffy back.

To everyone's surprise, however, Jeffy began to laugh. As they all looked at him in confusion, he laughed harder and harder until he was on the floor. "I don't get it," Davy said, by far the most confused of the bunch. Jeffy stopped laughing and sat up, still smiling and chuckling as he began to explain.

"I don't know where Tina found you, kid," he said. "But You seem like a nice enough guy. I'm afraid there's something you need to know about your date." He shot a glance at Tina, who stood there in stunned silence.

"You see," he said. "Tina here is an old girlfriend of mine, and I broke up with her a couple months ago. Now she has a habit of bringing poor unfortunates into this place in an attempt to get me jealous so I'll come crawling back to her. So far, I've just ignored them, I've hidden in the back so she thinks I'm not working, I've waited on every other table in the room and left hers to someone else, all sorts of stuff."

At this point, Tina was the one getting red in the face, as she realized that Jeffy had known about her petty attempts to get him jealous the whole time. Jeffy let out another chuckle as he continued talking.

"Today would have been the same thing, if I'd ever gotten the chance to think for a second. I would have come out here, seen the two of you together, and gone about my business. But with everything that happened, I guess we were destined to meet."

Davy was silent. He processed what had been said for a few seconds and then turned to Tina. "You used me!" He said angrily. She swallowed. "Yeah..." she said quietly. Davy shook his head. "I can't believe I did it again! I fell for a girl and she used me! Again!"

Mike breathed a sigh of relief. He could tell Davy was hurt, but he seemed to be more angry than sad. This was a good sign. Davy huffed angrily. "You know what, Tina?" He said. "I'm getting mad! Ohh, I'm getting so, so angry! In fact, I think I'm about to lose control!" Mike looked at Micky, who shrugged. Davy wasn't the type to get angry, and, like Peter, he wasn't the type to act on his anger. They had no idea _what_ he was planning on doing.

Tina didn't know Davy, however, and she actually looked a bit scared as Davy began to hop up and down, gritting his teeth and growling a little. With his hair soaking and his suit covered in food, the little man looked pretty comical, and the rest of the group began snickering behind their hands (in Micky's case, quite literally).

Suddenly, Davy lunged forward and hugged Tina, who gasped at the sudden movement. She soon realized what was happening, however, and angrily began pushing at Davy, trying to get him to stop hugging her. "Davy!" she whined. "Davy, you're ruining my dress! Get back, you're getting food all over it!"

Everyone began to laugh as Davy just held on even tighter. "You wanted me to take you out for dinner," he said. "Well, I would just be a pig if I kept it all to myself!"

Tina finally broke free and ran to the door, leaving the five boys laughing at her hasty retreat. After the manager kicked them out, they all got to talking with Jeffy.

"So, wait a minute," Mike said to their new friend later in the night. "I thought you said you were the jealous type, and even broke a man's nose 'cause you thought he was flirting with Tina." Davy's eyes widened for a second, suddenly thinking of how things could have turned out very differently. Jeffy, however, just laughed.

"Yeah, but that was back when I dated her," he said. "Before I learned how demanding and manipulative she was. I don't love her anymore, so I'm not jealous. Besides, you guys told me we were having a hypothetical conversation. You asked me what I would do if my girlfriend had a date with another guy, and I wanted to be honest. If you had told me that my_ ex-_girlfriend had a date with another guy, I would have told you that I didn't care."

Jeffy looked down at Davy, who was still a sight from Mike and Micky's mishap (Micky's problem had long since been resolved as well, just a little glue remover and he was once again a free man) and smiled.

"Really, the only regret I have," Jeffy said to Davy. "Is that you had to go and get all mixed up in this. It's partially my fault, I should have gone and talked to Tina the moment I realized what she was doing. But I let her continue, hoping she'd stop on her own."

Davy smiled back. He was so short compared to Jeffy that he had to bend his neck way back just to look at him, but it didn't really matter.

"Don't blame yourself," he said. "The only one to blame here is Tina. She knew what she was doing and still she did it anyway. I'm just glad I have all you guys here to pull me out before I get too far gone." He put his arms around Mike and Peter, who just happened to be the two sitting next to him.

"No problem," Mike said. "But Davy?" Davy turned to him. "Yeah?" He said. "I want you to keep the jacket." Davy frowned. "What?" He asked. Mike smiled. "I want you to keep this suit jacket. There's no way we'll ever get all these stains out, so I want you to keep it. I want you to hang it up in your closet, and the next time you fall in love with a girl, you'll see it hanging there, and hopefully it'll remind you that not everybody is what they seem. Maybe then you won't even need someone else to pull you out, you'll be able to pace yourself just fine."

Davy took Mike's words to heart, and decided to do what Mike suggested. He looked at the faces of his friends, he looked at Peter and Mike and Micky, and now, Jeffy. He smiled. He was lucky to have such good friends.

~Monkees~

The pad was so quiet at night, Davy almost felt as though he had to hold his breath or he would wake everybody up. They had all gone to bed almost as soon as they got home, he had been the only one to stay up. He said he had to get cleaned up, and that was true. But after he had washed all the stickiness out of his hair and changed into fresh clothes, he had decided that he wasn't quite ready for bed yet.

So he sat on the couch in the dark, thinking about Tina.

It was really stupid that it hurt so much, he decided. She had used him, lied to him, and here he still was hurt that she didn't love him.

She had said that she loved him. He hadn't told that part to the rest of the guys. After he had picked her up to go to the restaurant, she told him that she loved him. That should have been a warning, that she was talking so seriously before their first real date, but Davy had been so blinded by his own infatuation that he had believed her and reveled in the fact that he had found his true love.

It made him angry just thinking about it. He had been foolish to believe her, and had all but eaten dirt because of it. He had been right earlier when he said that it was nobody's fault but Tina's, but still, after everything she had done to him, he really did love her in his own way, and it hurt to know that she had been laughing at him the whole time.

His emotions were so contradictory, it almost was funny. He was so angry at her for using him, he was so hurt because she lied to him, but at the same time, he already missed her terribly.

And now he had to ask himself, why? Why, after learning of her true nature, did he still wish that they could be together? Was there something wrong with him, that he didn't care how much a girl walked on him as long as she kept him around to walk on?

No, he hated that idea, too. So what was it that was making this so hard to let go?

_It's because it shouldn't have been that way,_ he decided. _I said it myself, "There's no one to blame but Tina." She took something like love, and twisted it for her own means. But that's not how it should be, and that's why it hurts. She should have seen me for me, and not as a tool to use for Jeffy. She should have given me, given love, a chance, and not only looked back. It hurts because I shouldn't_ have _to miss her, if she had done things the right way, we could have been very happy together. It's not about how things happened, it's about how things _should_ have happened._

_That's why I miss her, even after she broke my heart._

Feeling a little bit better, Davy stood up and sighed. He looked around the pad, still upset and broken hearted, but already healing. If he had learned anything through this whole experience, it was that nothing is ever really the way it seems, and he had a jacket to prove it.

So, even though it seemed like he would never be happy again, he knew that things could change at any given moment, and it wouldn't be long before Tina would just be a forgotten memory, like a faded picture in a box, or an old song.

Suddenly tired from his long day, Davy yawned and made his way upstairs, chuckling over his mad thought of Tina becoming an old song. _That's it,_ he thought._ Now I have to write Tina a song. I won't use her name, of course, but she'll know. She'll know who I'm talking about, and it might just warn others out there to be watchful for her, even when they don't know who She is._

It was the perfect plan. But he would work on it tomorrow. Right now, all Davy wanted to do was sleep.


End file.
